Sensex jumps 279 points, still logs 4th weekly fall in five

Mumbai :Market benchmark Sensex jumped by 279 points today, in line with advances in global equities, but logged a fourth weekly loss in five as investor sentiment remained guided by fluctuations in crude oil prices and economic uncertainties.

Both the key indexes, Sensex and Nifty, slumped for the fourth week since the start of the year. BSE Sensex dropped by 253.72 points or 1.02 per cent while the NSE Nifty fell 74.45 points or 0.98 per cent.

On the day, all the sectoral indexes ended in green with the shares of metal, healthcare and banking recording gains.

“We are seeing signs of sharp improvement in global sentiment with a fall in the dollar index, highlighting a chance of change in preference to risky assets like EMs,” said Vinod Nair Head of Fundamental Research, Geojit BNP Paribas.

The BSE Sensex opened higher at 24,360.36 and shot up further to 24,672.90 before ending at 24,616.97, showing a gain of 278.54 points or 1.14 per cent.

The index had jumped by 115.11 points yesterday.

The 50-share NSE Nifty after testing the 7,500-mark to hit a high of 7,503.15, ended 85.10 points or 1.15 per cent higher at 7,489.10.

Shares of drug major Lupin was the top gainer among Sensex constituents with a gain 9.04 per cent at Rs 1,801.45 despite reporting 11.91 per cent decline in consolidated net profit.

Reliance Infrastructure and other group companies surged by as much as 7 per cent after RInfra sold its cement business arm to Birla Corporation for Rs 4,800 crore, a deal that will help Anil Ambani-led Group lower its debt burden.

Overseas, Asian and European stocks showed a mixed trend amid reduced expectations of further interest rate increases from the US Federal Reserve this year.

Japanese stocks fell by 1.32 per cent after the yen strengthened against the dollar. Key indexes in China and Taiwan moved down by 0.63 per cent to 0.84 per cent while Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea firmed up by 0.08 per cent to 2.53 per cent.

Key European indexes, like France and the UK firmed up by 0.55 per cent to 0.68 per cent while Germany’s DAX was quoted marginally lower by 0.04 per cent.